It was in production for almost 20 years. Specifically between 1974 and 1993. These days the Volvo 240 turns 50 years old. Known to many as the 'mansion carriage'.
Right must be right. The 240 was neither the first nor the last estate car from Volvo. But it is a car that many here, 31 years after production stopped, still associate with the term.
These days, the model whose production began in August 1974 turns 50 years old. The car became, if anything, the symbol of a Swedish folk car, and when the assembly line stopped in May 1993, almost three million copies had been built.
On YouTube you can find a 16-minute long summary from the May day in 1993, when production came to a standstill. See it all further down in this article.
– It has been called tractor, safety car, rally car, youth car, and now it is becoming even more of a cult car, said Pehr Gyllenhammar, who between 1989 and 1993 was Volvo's chairman of the board, when he handed over some to the buyers of the last 240, Lena and Ulf Smith.
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The Smith couple also bought Volvo 240 number 2,862,413. The successor, the Volvo 850, never became the same big hit for the then still Swedish brand. The 850 only exists in 716,903 copies.
In another remarkable chapter of Volvo's history, however, the Swedish state had to step in. In the same year that production of the 240 began, Volvo delivered 1,000 versions of the 144 model to North Korea. However, the communist dictatorship never paid for the cars.
Cars like any other today are still said to be roaming the North Korean roads. In order for Volvo not to break its neck on the deal, the Swedish state paid the bill.
The successive governments have since sent North Korea a reminder of the amount that has only grown larger over the years. Read more about it here .
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